Idea for Killington to stay open longer in the Spring #27

[Mister Moose]

So as most of you know I was hiking for turns on Superstar last weekend. With no sidekick, there was lots of quiet time for thought and reflection. It's a long ways to tower 6 one step at a time carrying your gear.

It's a glorious, bluebird day. The snow is primo. There is lots of it. Well, lots below the last roll-over. Middle Supe is mostly grass. But it's seamless to the bottom still.

Hmmm. What if we only skied lower Supe in May? You wouldn't need to blow all that much more snow than is already on the spreadsheet to last deeper into May.

You could build a midstation at tower 6. Hinge it so it could be lowered 4 feet hydraulically, and would be out of the way mid season. When in operation you would run the chair at fixed grip speeds since there is no detach mechanism at the midstation. No biggie there.

Way cheaper than blowing enough snow to get the entire trail to last in May. Less electricity to run the lift slower. Glorious view from the revenue producing Ubar. And yes, Mrs G, deep into May it would be weekends only.

The Beast would do it. Would Killington?

[jimmywilson69]

I had a similiar thought when I looked at the webcam last week and saw all the snow on the lower headwall. I got stumped at the mid station on a high speed lift. seems like you have a winner

[DrJeff]

They've got a mid station on the Orange Bubble Express high speed quad at the Canyons where only on the uphill side does the chair detach from the main haul rope for unloading. The downhill chairs stay about 10 feet above the mid station on the haul rope at full line speed as the downhill side is totally seperate from the uphill side at the mid station. Pretty cool to see actually, but i'm guessing with the spacing sensors at the base terminal the mid station on the uphill side and the summit terminal that it's not that big of a logistical deal for the software to keep the spacing of the chairs where they need to be

[steamboat1]

They've got a mid station on the Orange Bubble Express high speed quad at the Canyons where only on the uphill side does the chair detach from the main haul rope for unloading. The downhill chairs stay about 10 feet above the mid station on the haul rope at full line speed as the downhill side is totally seperate from the uphill side at the mid station. Pretty cool to see actually, but i'm guessing with the spacing sensors at the base terminal the mid station on the uphill side and the summit terminal that it's not that big of a logistical deal for the software to keep the spacing of the chairs where they need to be

Le Massif in Quebec has the same kind of mid station on one of their HSQ's. Doesn't seem like to big of a deal to do. From the looks of it doesn't seem to be much hardware involved either. It is a permanent year round mid station however.

edit: Found a picture of the Le Massif mid station. It was actually posted on K Zone in a thread about a K-1 mid station. They use it for up hill loading but it could be used for unloading also. You can see that the down hill chair doesn't go threw the terminal.

[RENO]

You guys can't be serious?

[Big Bob]

In order to keep the insurance co happy, you would have to limit the line speed to 500 FPM or less. I guess you could just slow the chair down. Sunday River has a removable deck for the Silver Bullet for early season midstation load/unload terminal.

[tt431]

You guys can't be serious?

[daytripper]

just blow enough snow that the hole trail can make it till atleast mid may. Not so hard, they got way beyond that for a long time, but I th ink at this point mid may would be enough to make even the purest diehards happy. none of this decapitate the trail sh*t, blow some f*** snow and make a statement and people will come!

[Skivt2]

Historically the upper headwall has always melted out first. They should build a stairway on the far far right of the trail (looking up) so you can easily walk down the upper headwall when the snow melts there.

As an extra bonus they could build a stairway on the far far right of the lower headwall (looking up) to make it easier to earn turns in the spring :)

[Guy in Shorts]

Easy solution. Just move the Snowdown Poma to Superstar. "its just that simple"

[Ski_the_Moguls]

Easy solution. Just move the Snowdown Poma to Superstar. "its just that simple"

No, please. Love the Poma where it is. Keeps the young racers on upper Bunny Buster - and only on Upper Bunny Buster. It is better for everyone if it stays right where it is.

You could add a poma to lower Superstar, but I much prefer Moose's mid-station idea.

[Marc Shepherd]

Le Massif in Quebec has the same kind of mid station on one of their HSQ's. Doesn't seem like to big of a deal to do.

My guess is you're talking at least $500k to $1m to reconfigure an existing HSQ to have a midstation (assuming it's possible at all), and that's for (perhaps) a couple of weeks of marginal end-of-season skiing on one trail. Of all the things for K to spend money on, that would be pretty far down on the priority list.

I don't think there's a lot of precedent for introducing a midstation on a lift that wasn't originally designed to have it. HSQs with midstations require a lot of extra hardware, to say nothing of new towers and losing trail space around the unloading point.

[Dickc]

Le Massif in Quebec has the same kind of mid station on one of their HSQ's. Doesn't seem like to big of a deal to do.

My guess is you're talking at least $500k to $1m to reconfigure an existing HSQ to have a midstation (assuming it's possible at all), and that's for (perhaps) a couple of weeks of marginal end-of-season skiing on one trail. Of all the things for K to spend money on, that would be pretty far down on the priority list.

I don't think there's a lot of precedent for introducing a midstation on a lift that wasn't originally designed to have it. HSQs with midstations require a lot of extra hardware, to say nothing of new towers and losing trail space around the unloading point.

I believe Mr. Moose was talking about one extra lift tower to flatten the lift line on the uphill side for a few feet, and a standard unload platform that can be lowered most of the time and be out of the way. Probably about $50-75K worth of expense. He is not talking about having the chairs come off the haul rope.

[Mister Moose]

I believe Mr. Moose was talking about one extra lift tower to flatten the lift line on the uphill side for a few feet, and a standard unload platform that can be lowered most of the time and be out of the way. Probably about $50-75K worth of expense. He is not talking about having the chairs come off the haul rope.

Correct, no detach mechanism. The only way this idea would have traction is if you do it inexpensively. That means no new towers, which also require a new haul rope for the added length needed.

The cheapest way to do it is to have the unload ramp at the existing tower if possible. It would be a longer than normal unload ramp due to the increased height, but that seems doable. Or, you could place the midstation farther up where the chairs first get very close to the ground already, and eliminate the need to keep the upper headwall functional in May.

[BoozeTan]

why dont they just run the chair as is and put a sign at the bottom of the lift "JUMPING FROM LIFT REQUIRED"
Total cost maybe $10